Fans of the Bleach ongoing have come to this hobby in various ways. Someone read manga from the very beginning, but most Russian-speaking connoisseurs started with anime. An intrigued viewer sooner or later wonders who the author of the anime “Bleach” is, who should be thankful for interesting plot twists, touching moments, and pleasant humor.
Anime as a specific type of animated film can be shot in manga, ranobe novels, in some cases there is just an idea - then the anime becomes the primary source. In the case of Bleach, the primary source is the manga that Kubo Taito invented and drew. Perhaps the word "painted" here incorrectly reflects reality, because the creation of the story about Kurosaki Ichigo took 15 years.
Biography of Kubo Taito
Under this pseudonym, the talented mangaka Kubo Noriaki works. The author of Bleach was born on June 26, 1977 in Japan, Hiroshima Prefecture . In an interview, Kubo often said that he dreamed of becoming a mangaka since childhood. When the popular Weekly Shonen Jump magazine announced a manga contest from newcomers, he took part, but other authors won prizes. Nevertheless, the style and talent of Kubo attracted the attention of the editor of the magazine.
The author did not avoid failures, his first short manga single went almost unnoticed, as did the next two. Then there was a swing for ongoing - Kubo began to create the manga "Zombie Powder" (Zombie Powder), the publication of which was stopped after the release of the fourth volume. According to rumors, Kubo had periods of acute self-doubt, right up to the thought of a change in professional activity. However, in August 2001, Weekly Shonen Jump magazine published the beginning of a story about an ordinary Japanese student. Kurosaki Ichigo, 15 years old, red-haired and wonderful. No one could predict what would come of it.
Rapid rise in popularity
It should be noted that the plot, in which an ordinary teenager suddenly acquires supernatural abilities and begins to save the world and fight on the good side, is one of the most well-worn. Just recall Sailor Moon. The author of Bleach seemed to follow the path of least resistance, starting on the same path as the mangak army before him.
However, Bleach confidently won over its reader. Surprisingly, a story intended for youth quickly attracted a wide audience. The popular manga, quickly gaining a leading position in the rating of the magazine Jump, was soon filmed and received standard fan service support. In addition to anime, fans received computer games, musicals, short stories and a huge amount of goods.
Fifteen years working on one manga
Bleach began in August 2001 and ended in August 2016. Exactly fifteen years, just as many as the main character, Ichigo Kurosaki, was at the beginning of the story. To understand the scale and scope of work, you should know the specifics of creating manga.
Mangaka cannot afford to relax and wait until the muse deigns to visit him. He must take the chapter a week without falling out of schedule. Therefore, the mangaka has assistants - the author draws the story, the main characters, and the assistants help in drawing backgrounds, hatching, detailing interiors or secondary characters, outlined in outline. The author of Bleach often said in an interview that even if he is visited by some amazing idea that he wants to reveal more fully, he simply does not have enough time.
However, to evaluate the attitude of Kubo Taito to his offspring is very simple. Each chapter has a small epigraph poem written by the author, and the chapter ends with a small sketch of an omake, touching or comedic. These are not required bonuses for readers, but they are very eloquent.
Popular “Bleach”: manga and anime filmed on it as a basis for fan service
With sufficient popularity of the manga, the rendering of an animated film will soon begin. This type of art has its advantages; history is painted in new shades. In addition to color and movement, anime has two undoubted advantages: music and voices of seiyu, voice actors.
It should be noted that in Japan seiyuu are well-deserved popularity, the industry exploits their expressive voices and manner of speech to obtain fantastic profits. In addition to the anime itself, seiyuu are working on creating musical singles, disks with which are bought up by fans in huge quantities, a huge number of related audio products are recorded. The fate of the anime “Bleach” did not escape. The description of any attraction with the voice of a popular character becomes twice as attractive, at the peak of popularity, even disks for those who find it difficult to fall asleep appeared on sale - they say sheep out loud, and then affectionately wish good night.
Work on filler characters
Sooner or later, in any anime ongoing, the moment comes when the plot catches up with the manga, and before the animators the question arises: what to do and how not to lose the viewer? It is in this case that the filler series appear, the plot of which has nothing to do with the original story in the manga. “Bleach” was no exception, arches about addicts, rebellious zanpactos and shorter filler stories about Princess Lurichiyo or captain Amagai Syuske evoked a wide range of feelings among the audience. Manga fans were outraged, and anime fans rejoiced at new stories.
Mangaki usually do not participate in the creation of filler series, and not even because of authorial jealousy, but simply because of a lack of time. The author of Bleach also managed to excel - Kubo Taito is known for helping to design the leading characters from the arch about rebel zanpakto, and when creating one of OVA, he even voiced a plush lion named Kon.
The story of the creation of "Bleach"
In its original form, the story of Ichigo Kurosaki was less tied to the historical Japanese surroundings, it had a lot of firearms. Rukia Kuchiki was armed not with a katana, but with a classic scythe - a weapon of shinigami, a priest of death. True, in various animes, only weapons that were not handed over by shinigami, the mangak fantasy is merciless: the god of death could be armed either with nail clippers or a chainsaw. However, Kubo redid the first chapters, so the story “Bleach”, beloved by readers, began to be drawn. The author was seriously interested in Spain, its national color, it is clearly visible in the Arrancar arch. But the Sternritters have a distinct German flavor.
Manga ending
After the anime was discontinued on series 366, fans were moody, but the manga continued to go out. The last chapter No. 686 is called the same as the first - "Death and Strawberries." The circle closed, everything ended happily, Ichigo and Orihime are happy together, just like Renji and Rukia.
The vast majority of fans admit that the ending is crumpled. This is uncharacteristic for Kubo Taito, who for fifteen years told a surprisingly logical story, at the right moments all the nuances that seemed random were explained. For example, at the very beginning of Kuchiki, Byakuya tells her sister that she is mistaken, and Ichigo accidentally looks like someone. Only a few years later, readers learn what Byakuya meant - Ichigo is actually related to Cayenne Shiba, and therefore resembles him.
The last chapters of the manga looked as if the author was trying to meet the deadlines set for him. Readers are curious and experiencing severe nostalgia, because they have been waiting for a new chapter for fifteen years every week.
Grateful fan reviews
Over the years with Bleach, readers have come up with a few simple axioms that pretty much amuse the fandom. Kubo clearly has a passion for chopping off his hands to his characters, it came down to counting off severed limbs and trying to predict events on the next hand, which the insidious author of Bleach chopped off. Reviews in most cases are benevolent, especially when compared with the main rival - the manga "Naruto", whose author, Kishimoto Masashi, no doubt killed the characters, instead of crippling them. However, closer to the end, Kubo made up for lost time.
Despite the sad fact that the manga is over, fans do not lose hope that Kubo will relax a bit and will please with a new creation, which is just as dynamic and exciting.